More women carrying concealed weapons in Florida

Shelley Levan, from Jacksonville's Westside, fires off a round with a 9mm pistol at the indoor range at Basics Range & Gun in Orange Park Thursday evening, March 20, 2014. Levan's husband works at the business and she is the daughter of a police officer.

ORANGE PARK | Shelley Levan inhaled calmly as she raised a 9mm Beretta semiautomatic pistol to align its front sight dead center with a paper target hanging several yards in front of her. She then slowly squeezed the trigger.

The shot boomed as the bullet went true as did the others that followed in steady succession.

Levan hopes never to have to use the handgun on anything but a paper target but she wants to be able to protect herself and those she loves if the need arises.

“I think now-a-days with the way, unfortunately the way our world is turning, I think women need to be able to take care of themselves,” said Levan, who was practicing at Basics: Range and Gun in Orange Park to prepare for its Florida concealed weapons/firearms license training course.

“I think anybody needs to be able to take care of themselves. They need to be able to defend their home and defend themselves if they go out. It’s just a safety issue,” said Levan, 39, from Jacksonville’s Westside, who was introduced to shooting sports as a hobby when she was a child by her father, a police officer.

Levan is the latest in her group of female friends to seek a concealed weapon/ firearm licenses, more commonly known as a concealed carry permit. And they are not alone.

More women are getting concealed carry permits each year, state data shows. A total of 1,236,901 people held valid state concealed weapon/firearm licenses as of Feb. 28, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which has handled licensing since 2003.

Women compose 23 percent or 276,386 of those license holders. In comparison, women composed 15 percent or 48,316 of the 324,236 Florida license holders in 2004, the data shows.

Basics: Gun and Range reflects that trend, said Franklin Dickinson, who opened the family-oriented indoor gun range about 3 1/2 months ago. He estimated about half of his customers are women.

“Women are shooting more and they are a large part of our market,” said Dickinson, noting Ladies Night on Thursdays at the range is extremely popular.

When they started, Dickinson said, they didn’t know the statistics about women getting concealed carry permits. They just knew that women, like the range’s business manager, Sherry Bunn, likely would be a bigger target of criminals than a man.

“We just wanted to do something to help these people. Lets do something and see if we can make these people safer,” Dickinson said of their focus on training women to shoot, and emphasis on gun safety for the entire family.

Bunn soon will be taking the concealed firearm training course, explaining "mainly, I want to be able to protect my children and defend myself."

Overall, the increase in concealed carry permits in Florida as well as nationwide has followed a fairly predictable pattern, said Sean Caranna, executive director of Florida Carry, a nonprofit grass-roots organization dedicated to keeping and carrying firearms for self-defense.

Heightened concern about personal and family safety is a key factor triggering increased gun sales as well as concealed carry permits for both men and women. Those surges typically follow mass shootings such as the Newtown, Conn., elementary school and the Aurora, Colo., movie theater attacks.

The public perception that violent crime is prevalent also contributes to the increase in concealed carry licenses, Caranna said. “Often times those people choose to get the tools necessary to defend themselves and their kids,” he said.

Another factor is exponential growth. People get interested in getting a license as their friends, relatives or neighbors get one, he said

“So, each concealed carry licensee winds up spurring other people to get the license, too,” Caranna said.

Gun control efforts at the federal or state level, Caranna said, prompt many people to buy guns, ammunition and obtain concealed carry permits because they are concerned about losing their Second Amendment rights.

“So, they get concealed carry licenses because they are afraid they [government officials ]are going to make it more difficult to get it later,” Caranna said.

Women also are more independent than in the past and don’t want to depend on men to protect them or their children.

A 2012 survey of first-time gun buyers shows women are more focused on self-protection and self-sufficiency than men, according to a report by the National Shooting Sports Foundation in Las Vegas, a trade organization for America’s firearms industry.

The increase of women with Florida concealed firearms permits isn’t happening in a vacuum.

More women nationwide also are getting the concealed carry permits as well as participating in target shooting and hunting, said Bill Brassard Jr., NSSF senior director of communications. “This is not an overnight trend. It has been going on for about the last decade,” he said.

About 79 percent of firearm retailers nationwide reported an increase in female customers in 2012 over 2011, the most recent NSSF data shows. Meanwhile, the number of women participating in target shooting increased 67 percent, while those participating in hunting went up 43 percent from 2003 to 2012, according to the National Sporting Goods Association’s most recent statistics.

Brassard said manufacturers are meeting the new demand for firearms and accessories by designing products specifically for women. In addition, firearm ranges and clubs are providing a welcoming, supportive environment for female shooters, he said.

Clay County is second behind only Duval County for the number of people with concealed carry firearm permits in Northeast Florida, state data shows.

Clay Sheriff Rick Beseler welcomes law-abiding residents having concealed carry permits. Anyone “who is lawfully entitled to it, should own, possess and carry a concealed firearm if that is what they want to do,” he said.

“When seconds count, the police are only minutes away. You’ve got to be responsible for your own safety until law enforcement can get there. And seven or eight minutes is a long time to wait for a police officer to get there when someone is kicking your door in,” said Beseler, adding that “the only thing a criminal fears is an honest citizen with a gun.”

Teresa Stepzinski: (904) 359-4075

BASICS: RANGE AND GUN

Basics: Range and Gun, 179 College Drive, Orange Park, offers Florida concealed weapons or firearms license training classes as well as basic handgun training and other firearm courses at its indoor range. It is open from 10 a.m. Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday and 1-7 p.m. Sunday. Ladies night is 5-7 p.m. each Thursday. For more information call (904) 276-9710 or info@basicsrangeandgun.com.

FLORIDA CONCEALED WEAPON/FIREARM LICENSE HOLDER PERMITS

A total of 98,005 people in Northeast Florida’s seven counties hold valid state concealed weapon/firearm licenses, which represents about 8 percent of the statewide total. A county breakdown of those license holders follows.

The number of woman with a Florida Concealed Weapon/Firearm License has increased annually from 2004-2014, according to available data from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which handles the licensing.

However, the department couldn’t provide the statistics for female license holders in 2008, 2011, 2012 or 2013 because its computer system was unable to retrieve that data, said Erin Gillespie,a department spokeswoman.